Summary: President Donald Trump said that the US will stop military exercises in South Korea after his meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un.
Tuesday’s meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un was a success, according to President Donald Trump. Trump said that Kim agreed to get rid of his country’s nuclear weapons and in exchange, the US will end its annual joint military exercises with South Korea.
“We will be stopping the war games which will save us a tremendous amount of money, unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should. But we’ll be saving a tremendous amount of money, plus I think it’s very provocative,” Trump said.
South Korea praised Trump and said that he “achieved a feat that no one else has ever delivered,” Buzzfeed reported.
Trump calling the military exercises “war games” is a departure from previous statements that they were necessary for defense, and Buzzfeed stated that the wording mirrored North Korea’s rhetoric.
Trump added that he would remove 32,000 US troops stationed in South Korea. He said that was one of his campaign promises to bring the troops home.
Reuters said that the end of US-South Korea military exercises may bring concern to South Korea and Japan. “If implemented, the halting of the joint military exercises would be one of the most controversial moves to come from the summit. The drills help keep U.S. forces at a state of readiness in one of the world’s most tense flashpoints,” Reuters said.
In exchange for US’ troop removal and the end of the military exercises, North Korea promised denuclearization, Trump said. Reuters reported that no other details were given about what North Korea would do to honor this pledge, which they also made earlier this year.
Trump and Kim met in Singapore on Tuesday. The highly anticipated summit was the first time Kim had ever met a US president.
Reuters spoke with military officials who said so far they have not been told to cease military drills in South Korea. One South Korean official told the publication that they felt it was odd that Trump had called the exercises “provocative.”
While some have expressed concern that Trump is ending the joint military exercises, this is not the first time the US has dialed back military presence in order to work with North Korea. “U.S. President George H.W. Bush agreed to cancel the huge “Team Spirit” joint military drills in 1992 in hopes the North would implement inspections agreements. The drills were eventually phased out,” Reuters said.
Before the summit, Kim was an international pariah known for his human rights violations. Tuesday’s meeting provided some legitimacy for the dictator, who has yet to speak out on the topic of human rights. Trump said that he believed Kim would eventually “do the right thing.”
So far, the talk on Tuesday appeared positive but people are unsure of whether or not Kim or Trump will backpedal on their promises.
“There is no concrete detail on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and the provision of security guarantees by the United States,” Li Nan, senior researcher at Pangoal told Reuters. “It is too early to call it a turning point in North Korea-U.S. relations.”
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